Toki no Cardo
by Skyla Doragono
Summary: Rating for inevitable swearing. Seven years ago, they promised to unite, but seven years is soon turning into eight, and when the Master Sword starts to show that Link is in danger, Princess Zelda turns to two very unlikely heroes...
1. Chapter One

The Legend of Zelda and Yu-Gi-Oh!  
  
Toki no Cardo  
  
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CHAPTER ONE  
  
Yami Yugi just stared at the screen, eyebrows raised in slight amusement, as his little hikari practically pounded on the strange device he held in his hands. The "controller" as his aibou had called it had three handles that joined together to form a wide, flat surface that held different multicolored buttons. His hikari's tiny hands were wrapped around the center and right handles, with one thumb permanently glued to the control stick and the other flying across the green, blue, and one of the yellow buttons at a dizzying speed.  
  
Yugi Mutou was either ignoring his other self, or was blissfully unaware of the Egyptian spirit's musings as he blinked against the sweat trickling down into his eyes from the effort he was putting into the video game. It was that blasted tail that was getting him so worked up. He just had to hit that damned tail one more time and he would win the game. The tiny computer chip inside the game cartridge seemed to know that he was only one hit away, as it was forcing his target to be that much more difficult to get to.  
  
The little teenager winced as his character got hit, and quickly forced the game sprite to get back to its feet, ignoring the vibration in the controller from the hit and the annoying beeping sound that meant he was low on hearts.  
  
Just one more hit on that tail...  
  
Yes! The tail was vulnerable! He instantly made is game sprite swing its sword...  
  
That was when the screen froze, the music humming on the note that it left off at as small glitches appeared on the display. Yugi blinked, not believing his incredibly BAD luck. He pounded on the controller, as if that would get his character moving again, before rolling forward from his sitting position and pounding on the fairly small unit that was his Nintendo 64. The display flickered a bit more, before it snapped to black. Holding his breath, Yugi pounded on the uncooperative unit again...  
  
Only to see his game character riding his horse in the game's opening sequence.  
  
"GODDAMMIT!!!" Yugi shouted, nearly throwing his controller at the television. Yami Yugi jumped, not used to his hikari raising his voice like that.  
  
"Aibou!" he exclaimed. "Calm down! It's just a video game..."  
  
Yugi fumed from where he was slightly laid out on the floor of the parlor, glaring at the translucent blue system resting innocently before him. "Zelda no Denesetsu: Toki no Ocarina" was quite an old game, but he had not known of its existence until recently. Since it was so old, he had to pick up a used copy of it from the local video game store, but since then he had been unable to put it down. The legendary game and its characters enraptured him; so much so that he hardly played any of his other games anymore. There was just one problem with his copy of the game: it tended to freeze in the most annoying of places, like it just did. By the time he realized how much of a problem it was, it was too late to exchange it at the store, and considering how far he was in the game, rather pointless to do so, considering he would have to start all over again.  
  
The little teenager buried his face in the carpet. "I'm never gonna beat this game, am I?" he asked, his voice muffled.  
  
Yami Yugi smiled, resting an encouraging hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure you will, aibou," he said. "Though, I must admit, it will be quite annoying going though that whole tower again."  
  
Yugi groaned at his words, realizing that he had not saved the game since he first entered the final area. That time, he really did throw his controller at the television; only it fell short of the screen, thanks to the controller wire that connected it to the Nintendo 64. Yami Yugi sweatdropped at the little one's actions.  
  
"Aibou, I think you've been hanging around the tomb robber too much..."  
  
Yugi sighed, slumping his shoulders, before he rolled over onto his back. "Wouldn't it be cool, mou hitori no boku?" he asked. "Wouldn't it be cool if it was all real?"  
  
Yami Yugi grinned. "I think our lives are exciting enough already, aibou."  
  
Yugi sighed dreamily, wondering what he would do if he were a legendary Hero of Time...  
  
/_\ /_\ /_\  
  
Beautiful sweeping fields, towns full of lively villagers, forests sparkling with the light of faeries, the sound of cuccos crowing; this was the wonder that was the mystical land of Hyrule. Everyone in the land was happy and content; now that the Imprisoning War was not even a memory in the minds of the people, save for a select few.  
  
Everyone was happy... except for one person...  
  
Princess Zelda sat alone on the balcony that extended out from her room, her royal blue eyes filled with sadness. The seven years that had been washed away by fate had passed, and she was once again near adulthood. Soon, she was to ascend the throne in her long passed on father's place, and rule over a peaceful Hyrule. By all rights, that should have brought her happiness, and if not for the vacant hole it her heart, it would have.  
  
She sent her sorrowful gaze out to the stars. Seven years ago they parted, promising they would see each other once again, when they were as they had been in the erased future. Seven years ago, they promised to unite under the blessing of the goddesses and the Triforce... but seven years was soon turning into eight, and Zelda had the distinct impression that something had happened that prevented her hero from returning to her.  
  
Clenching her fists at her sides, she went back inside her room and grabbed her cloak. Not missing a beat, she swept the fabric about her shoulders as she left her quarters and the castle, only stopping briefly to tell the guards at the gate that she was going to the Temple of Time. No one stopped her; they knew she had been restless as of late, and seeking the guidance that may be found at the Temple was probably the best thing for her to do.  
  
Zelda slowed a bit as she came to the Temple of Time; old memories from a time not lived stirring up familiar and painful emotions within her. Quashing them, she stopped when she reached the door before pulled up her harp from where it hung at her side. She carefully strung out the Prelude of Light, deciding to enter the Temple that was as opposed to conventional means, and silently berating herself for not doing so while she was still at the castle.  
  
The door before her suddenly dissolved away, and before she could blink, she was standing where the Master Sword stood sleeping in its alter. The Sword of Evil's Bane was listless, its edges dulled and the pure silver color of the blade tarnished. If this did not prove that there was something wrong, she did not know what did.  
  
Zelda clasped her hands before her in prayer, casting her eyes up pleadingly.  
  
"Please, Farore, great goddess of courage," she intoned. "Please, send to us someone who can save your champion. I beg of you. Send someone who can help Link!"  
  
/_\ /_\ /_\  
  
Yugi yawned tiredly, plopping into bed, before nuzzling up against his darker self. Yami Yugi smiled at his little light, wrapping an arm around him and grateful he had finally calmed down from before. After vocally pondering how great it would be to live an adventure like in his video game, Yugi had tackled the game again, making sure to save it after he had conquered all the necessary areas so he could reach the final boss.  
  
Unfortunately, the game froze again during the worst possible part. Yugi had gotten in his final hit on the boss's tail, but after that he had to recover a sword that had been cast away from his character during the battle and deal the final blow. Just as he swung the sword was when the game decided to freeze again, which sent Yugi cursing and Yami Yugi backing away from his aibou.  
  
"I still think it would be great, mou hitori no boku," Yugi murmured sleepily. "Riding around on that cool horse. Shooting down evil Poes. Saving all of the Sages from the bad guys. That's a cool adventure."  
  
Yami Yugi chuckled, holding his aibou tight. "Well, I'd hate to tell you to stop dreaming, aibou, but nothing like that is ever going to happen in this modern world."  
  
Yugi giggled. "Stranger things have happened," he said, poking his darker self in the chest. Yami Yugi really did not have an argument for that.  
  
"Just get some sleep, aibou," Yami Yugi said patiently. "You've got school tomorrow, remember?"  
  
Yugi made a face, but complied, snuggling a bit closer before drifting off to sleep. Yami Yugi smiled at his little angel, and was about to join him in sweet slumber, when an annoying tapping sound reached his ears. Frowning, he gently untangled himself from Yugi and padded his way across the room to get to the window, only to see a rather peculiar sight.  
  
A glowing green triangle of light with a golden center was hovering outside the window. That in itself was strange, but the fact that the golden triangle looked both two-dimensional and three-dimensional at once just baffled him and gave him a headache staring at it. The thing kept tapping against the glass, and after a moment of debate, Yami Yugi opened the window wide and allowed it to come inside.  
  
The triangle hovered above his face for a few moments, as if judging him. Yami Yugi blinked, perplexed, as the strange thing flew over to his aibou. The thing hovered before his sleeping form for a moment as well, before it started circling him, starting from his feet and going up to his head, going right through the mattress as it did so. For a brief moment, Yugi glowed slightly, before he disappeared in a burst of green light.  
  
It took Yami Yugi a moment to realize what had happened. When he did, he was beyond furious.  
  
"Where's my aibou?!" he demanded as the glowing triangle came toward him. "What did you do with him?"  
  
As if in answer, the strange thing started flying circles around him as well, in the same manner as it had to Yugi. Before the spirit of the pharaoh could even protest, he disappeared from the world he knew...  
  
/_\ /_\ /_\  
  
Zelda felt her heart sink slightly. She had hoped that the goddess Farore would have responded right away somehow. Disheartened, she reached for her harp and was about to teleport out of there, when she felt an odd presence behind her. Whirling around in surprise, she nearly dropped her instrument.  
  
An image of the Triforce of Courage shone a brilliant green behind her.  
  
The princess knew it was not the REAL Triforce of Courage. That would only have appeared on its own when the person who held it within himself died, and she knew she would have been able to sense THAT. Not knowing what else to do, she waited for the image of the Triforce piece to do what it was there to do.  
  
What happened, however, was not what she expected to happen. After a moment of waiting, the green aura around the Triforce piece expanded and grew brighter to the point where she had to shield her eyes. With a burst of magic, two young men were suddenly deposited on the ground with an echoing THUD. One had obviously been asleep, for he let out a snort when he hit the ground that stated as much. The Triforce of Courage hovered over the two of them a bit, before disappearing as quickly as it had appeared, leaving a baffled princess and two very bewildered young men behind.  
  
Yugi gazed around, bleary-eyed, wondering why he had been so rudely interrupted from his peaceful napping. It took him a moment to realize he was sprawled out on a cold marble floor, and that his other self had landed on top of him.  
  
"Mou hitori no boku..." he began wearily. "Off..."  
  
Yami Yugi's numb mind somehow managed to get his body to fulfill his hikari's request. He moved off of his little one, looking around the place they had ended up in astonishment. Though it was hard to see, as it was obviously nighttime here as well, he could tell the room they had ended up in was made of polished marble. On a slightly raised dais in the center of the room, a tarnished old sword was embedded in a small slab of stone. Standing next to it was a beautiful young woman with blonde hair, strange pointed ears, and wearing a long pink gown. Yami Yugi found himself staring at her; why did she look so familiar?  
  
Zelda was also staring, though not for the same reason as the former pharaoh. The two men that Farore had sent her had to be the two strangest men ever to touch Hylian soil. They both had the same oddly spiked, tri-colored hair that seemed to defy gravity. One was much shorter than the other, and she assumed them to be brothers. The shorter of the two was clad in a light blue shirt and trousers decorated with little stars. The taller only wore a pair of black pants. Both of them had the same violet eyes, though one's were wide with innocence and the other's narrowed with experience.  
  
The three of them stared at each other for a long moment, exchanging bewildered looks, before someone finally had the courage to say something. Zelda bowed to the two of them, a bit meekly.  
  
"Greetings, those chosen by the goddess of courage," she greeted. "I am Princess Zelda, heir to the throne of Hyrule. I am the one who requested you to come here."  
  
It took a moment to register, but when it did, Yugi's jaw literally hit the cold marble floor. Yami Yugi nodded silently to himself, helping his aibou keep his mouth shut. He thought he had seen the woman before, though he almost did not recognize her. Sixty-four bit graphics only showed so much detail.  
  
"You're... you're really... ZELDA...?!" Yugi exclaimed breathlessly. The princess nodded in affirmation. The small teenager blinked a couple times, before he gave his other half a punch in the arm.  
  
"I told you so!"  
  
Yami Yugi just rolled his eyes. Zelda watched their antics, a little concerned. These were the two chosen by Farore to help Link? She fought back a sigh, already feeling a sense of dread creeping up inside of her.  
  
/_\ /_\ /_\  
  
The trip back to the castle was quite interesting, to put it mildly. When the little one - Yugi, as Zelda quickly learned his name was from how often the taller boy kept telling him to calm down - was not gaping at the scenery, he was hounding her with questions. After about the fourteenth question, Yami Yugi (whose name she had learned from Yugi talking back to him) finally told him to stop it or he would duck tape his mouth shut. Zelda did not understand what it meant to have a person's mouth duck tapped shut, but she doubted it was very pleasant.  
  
Once they reached the castle, the princess instantly lead the two unlikely heroes to the gardens, to that same place she had met him all those years ago. Yugi looked about in awe, before running to the windows in the walls on either side. He tried to look inside them, before complaining that there were no pictures of Mario or Yoshie. Zelda REALLY did not know what he meant by that, and had a feeling she did not want to find out either.  
  
"Don't mind him," Yami Yugi said from behind her. "This is a little... different for the both of us."  
  
"I understand," Zelda said quietly, as Yugi ran up to the little window that looked in on the throne room of the castle to peer inside. "You do not come from this world, do you?" She gave him an odd look. "Nor do you exist as Yugi does."  
  
"That would be a yes to both," the pharaoh replied, an easy smile on his face. "Where we're from all this -" Yami Yugi swept his hand about, as if to encompass of all Hyrule - "is just a video game; not reality. As for me..."  
  
He trailed off as Yugi came running back toward them. "Mou hitori no boku!" he exclaimed. "It's just like in the game! It's just like Toki no Ocarina!"  
  
Yami Yugi winced. "Hush, aibou," he scolded. "You're loud enough to wake the dead."  
  
"They do that at night anyway," both Zelda and Yugi replied.  
  
The pharaoh fought back the urge to roll his eyes. These video game things had always been beyond him. Sure, like most other games, he performed really well at them, and there was not a single one in Yugi's collection that he had not mastered (much to his hikari's annoyance). He just did not understand what the big thrill was; you pushed a button and the character on the screen moved. Whoopee; back during his reign in Ancient Egypt, he did not need a button to do the same thing to REAL people.  
  
"Anyway," Yami Yugi went on. "Why are we here?"  
  
A very serious look crossed the princess's face at his question. "Since you mentioned the Ocarina of Time, I have to assume that you know of the Imprisoning War that occurred, yet did not occur?"  
  
Yugi blinked. "Hunh?" he asked. "It happened all right! See, Link had to rescue the Sages, and -"  
  
"Aibou, let her finish."  
  
Yugi pouted; it was a look that was so adorable and reminded her so much of HIM when he was younger, that Zelda could not help but chuckle. She recovered her seriousness after a moment, but there was still a slight smile tugging at her lips.  
  
"Well, after the war was over," she continued, clasping her hands before her, "Link and I went our separate ways, with him leaving a promise to return from adventuring seven years later so we would be together."  
  
It was hard to miss the dreamy look that had suddenly appeared on Yugi's face, but he did not really care. That was just so romantic; he always thought - ever since he first encountered the video game Zelda - that the hero and the princess would make a good couple.  
  
"So, what's wrong?" Yami Yugi asked, breaking his reverie. "He hasn't returned?"  
  
Zelda shook her head. "It's nearly going on eight years. Under normal circumstances, and with anyone else, I wouldn't be concerned. But Link went on his quest for the soul purpose of finding adventure. Not only that, but the sword you saw at the Temple, the Master Sword; it has become dull and tarnished, as if it is reflecting that there's something wrong with Link. That is why I asked Farore, the goddess of courage, to summon you."  
  
Yugi blinked, reality finally setting in. "But..." he protested, looking up to his other self for help. "We're not heroes. Not like Link anyway. We don't even know how to use a sword!"  
  
Yami Yugi poked his aibou in the shoulder. "YOU don't," he corrected. Yugi pouted again.  
  
Zelda just smiled gently. "Farore IS the goddess of courage, whose part of the Triforce shines as a beacon for all heroes, no matter what world they're from. I trust her judgment, just as you should trust yourselves."  
  
Yugi found his feet interesting at that, having nothing to say in response. Yami Yugi rested a hand gently on his shoulder, before turning to the princess once again.  
  
"Will you return us home afterwards?" he asked.  
  
Zelda nodded. "Does that mean you'll...?"  
  
Yugi looked up at his other self, and the two of them came to a silent agreement.  
  
"Where do we start?"  
  
/_\ /_\ /_\  
  
"Aibou, remind me why I agreed to this again?"  
  
Yami Yugi stared at his reflection in the mirror as he asked his question, the disdain practically dripping from his voice. The princess had allowed them their own rooms for the night so they could finish the sleep they were rudely deprived of. When they awoke the next morning, the tailor had stopped by, dropping off a set of cloths for both of them that Zelda thought they would enjoy. Though Yugi was practically bouncing off the walls over the outfit he had quickly grabbed and ran behind a screen to put on, Yami Yugi could not be any less enthusiastic.  
  
The simple fact that the outfit had no leather in it whatsoever was one of the small irritations about it. Some of the others where that green and white were NOT his colors, the boots were just ugly, he had only one belt not counting the sword sheath on his back, and he had to tie his spiky raspberry and black hair back so as to accommodate the cap, leaving the blond of his hair sticking out from underneath. He felt like a complete moron wearing something like that, and promised himself that the next village they stopped to, the first thing he would do was get a clothing change.  
  
Yugi stepped out from behind the changing screen, wearing his outfit proudly. It was the same as the pharaoh's, with the fact that he was not wearing the white under shirt and pants being the exception. He bounced Yami Yugi away from the mirror to get a good look at himself.  
  
"Wow! I look good!" he exclaimed, as Yami Yugi sweatdropped.  
  
"Aibou, maybe we shouldn't have agreed to this," he replied.  
  
"What are you talking about, mou hitori no boku?" Yugi asked innocently, going over to where a row of weapons had been set out for them during the night. He picked up a small sword that was big enough for him to use and slid it into his own little sheath.  
  
"I'm saying that this may be a little bit out of our league," Yami Yugi answered as his aibou picked up a shield that suited him and slung it onto his back.  
  
"Well, if I recall, I was the one who had misgivings last night, while you seemed to be all gung-ho about it," he said, before picking up a small bow and plucking at the string. It twanged in response. "You think I should take this?" he asked. "I was pretty good during archery classes in gym."  
  
"I'd be afraid you would use me as target practice," Yami Yugi joked.  
  
Yugi pouted, before taking once of the oddly shaped nuts among the weapons and throwing it at him. The nut missed the pharaoh and landed on the ground, exploding in a burst of smoke. The two of them coughed, fighting to breath in the choking smoke that had appeared, before Yami Yugi raced for the window and threw it open. The smoke escaped out into the castle grounds, enabling them to breath again. The Egyptian spirit turned back to his hikari, a stern paternal look on his face.  
  
"Aibou..." he began.  
  
Yugi laughed nervously. "Ah... so THAT'S what Deku Nuts do! I never used them before; I thought they were pretty useless."  
  
Yami Yugi smacked himself in the forehead. If they managed to get out of the castle alive, not to mention rescue Link, it would be a miracle. 


	2. Chapter Two

The Legend of Zelda and Yu-Gi-Oh!  
  
Toki no Cardo  
  
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Wai! ^_^ Eighteen reviews! I can't believe it! ^_^  
  
Well, anyway, sorry this came so late. I (finally) got a new Swiss Army Knife, and I nearly sliced my finger off try to close one of the knives. Try typing like that. Owie!!  
  
Anyway, Q and A time. ;)  
  
MillenniumDreamer: Nope, it's not just going to be Yugi and Yami Yugi, though they'll be the only guy/guy couple. Yeah, yeah, the usual shounen-ai-ness between the two; subtle, except when the tomb robber's around.  
  
Eternal Dreamer: Now, if I told you what happened to Link, that would defeat the purpose of the story, now would it? ;)  
  
Zera: Yup! The title DOES mean "Card of Time". Congrats, you were the only one that pointed that out in a review. ^_^  
  
fishkisser: I do have one picture of Yugi and Yami Yugi from this story drawn. I'll put up another section on my website when I get more pictures done.  
  
MollyJean: XD Yeah, I know, I'm evil taking away Yami Yugi-sama's leather. ^_____^  
  
Menolly: @.@ Whoah, lotsa questions. Well, like most of my stories, this is based on the manga, so there was no DOOM arc, and this takes place after the Egyptian arc... which has taken a strange twist, but I'm not worrying about that right now.  
  
Link02: Okay, so I used Deku Nuts ONCE; in Jabu Jabu's Belly, against the Stingers, so I could get them to come out in a position that I could easily jump attack them from.  
  
Lady Silver Dragon I: It's going to be Link/Zelda, because I've been playing LoZ since the first Nintendo game came out in the 80s. In my eyes, they've always been a couple, even though it's always a different Link and Zelda in almost every LoZ game. ;) Seniority rules, here, hun. ^_^  
  
Chibizoo: *is glomped* o.O Zoo-chan, no stealing my writing ability. If you did that, I wouldn't be able to write anymore, now would I? ^_^  
  
All right, you know the deal. Read, enjoy, and then review!  
  
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CHAPTER TWO  
  
Picking out the weapons that best suited them was a bit of a challenge for Yugi and Yami Yugi, though they had both come to the conclusion that staying away from the Deku Nuts would be a good idea. In addition to the small sword and bow and quiver of arrows, Yugi had settled on a boomerang as his third weapon. He used to throw one when he was younger, and though he knew he was a little rusty, he had a feeling he would pick it up again quickly.  
  
Yami Yugi had a bit more trouble picking his weapons. He was used to weapons of the desert: shamshirs and Egyptian sai and other such items. After a long moment of debating, he settled on a long sword that looked oddly similar to the Master Sword, a hook shot, and a bag of bombs. If there was one thing he knew from watching his aibou play that infernal game, was that anything that did not get smashed with a sword or pegged with an arrow got blown to bits by a bomb. The hook shot would help them get around, especially if they ever ended up in any of those strange dungeons. The sword... well, he would have preferred something a little more curved, but when his aibou had seen the Master Sword look-a-like, he made all cute puppy dog eyes at him.  
  
Yami Yugi did not stand a chance.  
  
Afterward, the man that was standing guard outside their room led them through the labyrinthine castle, to the courtyard outside. Down at the main gate to the castle, a harassed looking Princess Zelda was waiting for them. On either side of her were what had to be the two strangest women the pharaoh had ever seen. One had a sharply featured face and was dressed in a pink outfit reminiscent of a harem girl, while the other looked like a human fish that obviously thought clothing was only a human necessity. Both of them were arguing with the Hylian princess, and judging from the expression on Zelda's face, she was about to strangle one or both of them any minute.  
  
"It is NOT fair, Zelda!" the fish girl exclaimed, stamping her webbed foot. "You're not the only one who loves Link! Why should only YOUR champions rescue him?!"  
  
"And how do you even know he's in trouble?" the harem-like woman asked. "For all we know, this could just be you being over anxious to get into his pants."  
  
That comment was apparently Zelda's breaking point. She got in the other woman's face, making her back up in surprise.  
  
"How dare you speak to me like I'm some two-bit Gerudo whore!" she snapped. The harem-like woman growled at that.  
  
"Just WHAT are you implying?!" she demanded. Yugi and Yami Yugi sweatdropped; they could literally see the sparks flying between the two women.  
  
"Looks like what you say is right, mou hitori no boku," Yugi said, his voice flat. "Royalty and thieves don't mix."  
  
Either Yugi said that too loud, or the harem-like woman had superb hearing, for in the next instant she was in his face, practically seething in rage.  
  
"I AM NOT A THIEF!" she exclaimed, emphasizing each word.  
  
"Of course you're not, Nabooru-san!" Yugi squeaked, before dashing to hide behind his other half.  
  
Nabooru followed him with her eyes... and suddenly those eyes were roving all over Yami Yugi. The pharaoh got the distinct impression - at least judging from the look on her face - that she was picturing him withOUT the annoying clothing. He just gave her a bland look, though it took a supreme effort to do so.  
  
"May I help you?" he asked in a low tone, resisting the urge to either hit her or blush.  
  
Nabooru just smiled a predatory smile. "You're kinda cute..."  
  
"Back off... he's mine..." Yugi muttered under his breath, only loud enough for Yami Yugi to hear. The pharaoh smirked at that, but before he could say anything, he was interrupted by an annoying, whining voice.  
  
"Not only are they your champions, but you dress them up like Link?!" the fish girl practically squealed. "That does it! I DEMAND my own champion!"  
  
Zelda gripped her hands at her sides, looking like she fighting against the urge to hit her, and loosing miserably. The Hylian princess took a few calming breaths, before she spoke in a cool collected voice.  
  
"Princess Ruto, Chief Nabooru, you do realize that the only way you could summon your own champions were if you were to do so from your respective temples," she stated. "These things take time; time that we might not even have."  
  
"So?" Ruto, the fish girl, asked. "It's not like our temples are loaded with monsters anymore!"  
  
"That's not the point -"  
  
"What is the point, your highness-ness?" Nabooru asked, finally looking away from Yami Yugi. "I don't think its much trouble for us to 'borrow' one of your champions to 'escort' us in summoning our own."  
  
Zelda sputtered slightly, what little grace she had left after the argument between the three of them absolutely gone now. After a moment, she hung her head in resignation.  
  
"I suppose so..."  
  
"Hey, wait a minute!" Yami Yugi exclaimed. "Don't we have a say in this?"  
  
"No," Nabooru replied casually.  
  
The pharaoh made a face. It was bad enough that he and his hikari had been transported to this strange world in the middle of the night, given strange and - in his noble opinion - absolutely tasteless clothes to wear, and expected to save some former hero. Now they were expected to escort these two so-called ladies to summon more poor souls on this stupid quest? With anyone else, maybe he would not have minded, but given their personalities, he was almost afraid of who they would summon.  
  
"Well then!" Ruto exclaimed, walking over to him. "Considering that my temple is under water, and they only make Zora Tunics in adult sizes, I suppose I'll have to take this one."  
  
She grabbed Yami Yugi by the arm and tugged him toward her rather rudely. The pharaoh was about to snap at her for it, but he thought against it. Better to keep this princess in what qualified as a good mood.  
  
"Guess that means I'm stuck with the kid," Nabooru replied, looking down at Yugi with slight disdain. Yugi made a face; he may have been short, but he was by no means a kid.  
  
Zelda gave the two of them truly apologetic looks. "I'm sorry you two."  
  
Yami Yugi sighed. He knew they would not be able to get out of this palace alive...  
  
/_\ /_\ /_\  
  
A few hours later found Yugi on horseback, clinging to Nabooru as she plowed her white stallion through the Gerudo sands. He felt a little strange; it was the first time in a long time he was such a distance away from his darker self, the last time being when they had traveled to the memory world to recover Yami Yugi's memories. He felt... lonely without him; he hated feeling that way.  
  
"So, where exactly are you from?" Nabooru asked, looking over her shoulder at him.  
  
"Domino City, in Japan," Yugi answered.  
  
"Domino City? Japan?" she replied, confused. "Never heard of it."  
  
"I didn't think you would..." he muttered under his breath.  
  
"Hunh?"  
  
"Nothing."  
  
Nabooru gave him a critical look over her shoulder. "Forgive me for saying so, but you don't look like a fighter, despite the clothes her highness-ness stuck you in. Do you even know how to use that sword on your back?"  
  
Yugi sweatdropped. "Uh... if I said no, would you be mad?"  
  
Nabooru suddenly brought the horse to a quick halt, nearly sending Yugi flying off. She turned slightly in the saddle, giving him a disbelieving look.  
  
"Are you serious?" she demanded. "What the hell is that princess THINKING?! Throwing a kid who has no idea what he's doing into obvious danger... GAH! What an idiot!"  
  
With that, she hopped off of the horse, dragging Yugi down with her. Not expecting the move, he lost his balance and fell face first into the sand. Shaking the small grains out of his cap, he rolled over on his rear end and glared at the Gerudo tribe leader. Of course, Yugi had never really mastered the art of glaring, so all that came out was a somewhat sour pout. Nabooru was ignoring him anyway, so it did not really matter what it came out as. She rounded her horse, and pulled out two shamshirs from matching sheaths before turning back to him.  
  
"Get up," she ordered. "You're about to get a crash course in swordsmanship."  
  
Yugi blinked, caught off guard. "Are you serious? I thought we barely had time to figure out what happened to Link?"  
  
"Yeah, and knowing how danger prone he is, once you do you'll have to fight your way through swarms of enemies and other such vile things," Nabooru countered. "Not knowing how to fight won't help him any, you know."  
  
Yugi glared/pouted again; no matter how much he hated to admit it, she was right. He stood up and brushed himself off, before reaching behind his back for his sword and shield. Hesitating a moment, he readied the two before him like he had always seen the Link sprite in his video game do, only in reverse seeing as he was right handed and Link was left handed. Nabooru paused a moment, looking him up and down, a small smile on her face.  
  
"You know, that's what he looked like when I first saw him," she said, a bit nostalgic. She snapped out of it then, readying her swords. "I've gotta admit, you look a lot like him. Now lets see if you have any of his fighting talent!"  
  
/_\ /_\ /_\  
  
Yami Yugi wanted to know what he did that made the Gods want to punish him so. He was riding on horseback, making his way across the Hylian fields, with Princess Ruto seated behind him. Not two minutes after they had left the castle gates did she start complaining about how bumpy the ride was and how the saddle chaffed her scaly skin. All he could think was that if she did not shut up, then he was going to give her something WORTH complaining about.  
  
Not soon enough, they arrived at their destination: Lake Hylia. The pharaoh spurred the horse to a stop next to some scarecrows, and waited with strained patience for Ruto to get off. When she did not budge, he looked over his shoulder at her.  
  
"Well?" he asked. "What are you waiting for?"  
  
Ruto scoffed. "It's proper for a gentlemen to help a lady off of a horse."  
  
Yami Yugi narrowed his eyes. "I don't SEE any ladies around..."  
  
The princess huffed. "You may look like Link, but you have absolutely NO manners!"  
  
The pharaoh pulled on the pieces of his blonde hair that were sticking out from under his cap. "I look nothing like him!" he exclaimed, his patience snapping in half. "Now get off the damn horse!"  
  
Both Ruto and the horse scoffed at his use of language, but the annoying fish girl finally complied, sliding off the saddle that supposedly was chaffing her skin. Yami Yugi followed, landing on the ground with ease, before stepping toward the lake. Squinting slightly, he could just make out the faint outline of an entrance to something under the clear blue water.  
  
"And HOW am I supposed to get down there?" he asked.  
  
Ruto put her hands on her hips, before reaching into a saddlebag on the horse and pulling out a blue tunic and matching cap. It looked like the set the pharaoh was already wearing, just a different color. He raised a critical eyebrow at it.  
  
"And how precisely is that supposed to help me breathe underwater?"  
  
Before he knew what was happening, the princess had jumped him and was wrestling the tunic over his head. Then, before he could throw her off, she jumped off on her own, leaving him glaring at her (he was much better at it than his hikari was) while smoothing out the rumbled tunic. Once he had accomplished fixing it to his liking, however, Ruto had once again grabbed him by the arm and started dragging him toward the lake.  
  
"Now wait just a minute!" Yami Yugi managed to protest, before he found himself flailing through the air, landing in the water with a loud splash. Somehow, he had managed to gulp in some air before he landed, and held onto that precious commodity as he watched Ruto dive in after him.  
  
She giggled at the sight of him. "Try breathing, silly!" she exclaimed, her voice slightly garbled by the water.  
  
Glaring, Yami Yugi complied... only to nearly gag. A confused look crossed Ruto's face, quickly followed by a shocked expression.  
  
"I forgot the cap!" she exclaimed, swimming toward him, the blue hat that went along with his new tunic still in hand. She pulled his old cap off and rammed the blue one on in its place.  
  
With the completed outfit together, it suddenly felt like a bubble had encompassed Yami Yugi's entire body, allowing him to breathe in the water like he would air. He gulped in a few relieving gasps, before shooting another glare in the princess' direction.  
  
"Next time you drag me somewhere, make sure I'm not going to DIE first, okay?" he requested, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Ruto returned his glare, before shoving the green hat into his arms.  
  
"Let's go, 'hero'," she ordered, mocking him. "We don't have all day to play games."  
  
With that said, she swam off, leaving Yami Yugi grumbling about different ways to cook a fish in her wake. Never having been one for swimming - he grew up in a desert after all, and could not float in the water even if he wanted to - the former pharaoh walked along the lake floor after her, tucking the green hat into his belt as he did so before pulling out his hook shot. In that video game, the hook shot was the only weapon that could be used underwater. It did not make sense in his opinion, but then again he was not about to attempt to use his sword, or anything else for that matter, to find out otherwise.  
  
After a short distance, the two of them arrived at the entrance to Ruto's temple, the Water Temple. Just inside the entrance, they reached their first of many problems; while Ruto swam up to get to a patch of dry land, Yami Yugi just stood there, following her with his eyes. It took her a moment to realize he was no longer following, and she turned around in a huff.  
  
"What are you waiting for?" she demanded. "Get up here!"  
  
Yami Yugi just gave her a bland look. "You have yet to realize that I can't swim, hunh?"  
  
Ruto put her hands on her hips and started to yell at him for not telling her sooner, but he was not paying attention. A shadow was hovering above the water surface, and it was getting bigger...  
  
Not bothering with any kind of warnings or apologies, Yami Yugi reached up and grabbed Ruto by the foot, pulling her down toward him as a large fish with a painful looking fin splashed into the water. In the next instant, he had the hook shot up and aimed, and before the creature could get any closer, he fired. The hook and chain shot out, tearing into the fish's body and making it dissolve away into nothingness.  
  
Ruto stared at where the monster had been in stunned silence, while Yami Yugi gave her a critical look.  
  
"I thought you said there were no more monsters?" he asked after a moment.  
  
"Well... there shouldn't be!" she exclaimed. "Ganon was sealed away in the Evil Realm, so his monsters should be too. Maybe it was just one that got overlooked."  
  
Ruto grabbed him by the arm, but this time he did not protest as she swam the both of them up to the surface of the water within the Water Temple. Inside the temple proper, walls the color of the deep seas glimmered slightly in the faint torchlight reflected off the water. A tall central tower reached up above that water, expanding up farther than the two of them could see.  
  
That was not what held their attention, however. In the water below them, surrounding the central tower, dozens upon dozens of fish fins prowled the waters. On a narrow walkway that encircled the tower, a handful of spider-like creatures lurked, bouncing slightly as if daring them to come in their direction. After a long moment of staring, another bland look crossed Yami Yugi's face.  
  
"Just overlooked, hunh?"  
  
/_\ /_\ /_\  
  
Yugi and Nabooru both managed to have the same disbelieving looks on their faces as they stared at the entrances to the Spirit Temple. One of those was not really an entrance, but a small crawl space that only Yugi was small enough to fit through. A huge granite pillar blocked off the other one, the main entrance. They stared at the blocked path for a long moment, before the Gerudo tribe leader smacked herself on her jeweled forehead.  
  
"I forgot!" she exclaimed. "Technically, Link never met me before, which means he never went to get the Silver Gauntlets, which means he never moved this stupid pillar to open up the temple!"  
  
"Well, I guess that means I'll have to go get the gauntlets," Yugi replied, making toward the crawl space.  
  
"Whoa, kid, are you sure?" Nabooru asked, alarmed. True, the kid proved to be okay with a sword, but he had absolutely NONE of Link's talent. If he were to run into serious trouble, she doubted he would be able to take care of himself.  
  
"Sure I'm sure," Yugi replied cheerily, dropping to his hands and knees. "Besides, Ruto-hime said that there were no more monsters, so this should be a breeze."  
  
Nabooru sighed, not feeling nearly as confident. "Well... just take this with you," she said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small crystal that glowed red with an inner light. She tossed it to him, and he caught it easily.  
  
"Is this what I think it is?" Yugi asked, inspecting it.  
  
"If you're thinking it's Din's Fire, then yes," the tribe leader replied with a smirk. "Nothing like a little help from the Goddess of Power to crispy fry anything that might give you trouble. Just be careful, kid, that's all I ask."  
  
Yugi gave her a thumbs up, deciding not to ask her how she got the magic crystal (he had a feeling he knew anyway), before crawling on his hands and knees through the small opening that led into the Spirit Temple. As soon as he was able to stand up straight again, however, he realized he was in for a lot more than he bargained for. All along the room, small bats called Keese dotted the walls and alcoves. In the very center of the room was a statue holding a sword and shield, and he did not have to have played the game to know that the statue would come to life if he touched it.  
  
"Knew I shoulda grabbed some bombs," he muttered to himself, taking in the rest of the room. There were two doors and one more crawl space in the room. The doors were blocked off with steel bars, and he knew from experience that the narrow opening led to a locked door.  
  
First thing was first; he had to get rid of those Keese and seeing how using fire magic only turned normal Keese into Flaming Keese, he had to do it the hard way. Taking his bow from behind his back, he held it up and cocked an arrow, trying to remember the lessons he had in gym class. First was to hold the bow as perpendicular to the ground as possible, second was to keep both eyes open, and third was to sight the target along the arrow shaft. He followed those three simple rules, bringing the bow and arrow to bear on the bat closest to him. Taking a moment to make sure he had a perfect shot, he fired straight at the bat.  
  
The Keese did not know what hit it. It let out a squeal as the arrowhead tore through it, before disappearing into nothingness, leaving the arrow behind. Yugi proceeded to do the same to all the other Keese in the room, making sure to steer clear away from the Armos Statue in the center, so as not to bring it to life prematurely.  
  
Once that was accomplished, Yugi was left with the daunting task of trying to figure out how to get rid of the statue. He gathered up the arrows he had used as he thought; he had always planted a bomb near the Armos, and then pegged it with something to bring it to life just in time to die. How was he going to do that without any bombs?  
  
When he collected his last arrow was when it clicked. Back in the glory days of the old sixteen-bit Super Fanicom, there was also a Zelda game for that system, and in it were enemies known as Armos Knights. In order to kill those things, a person had to wait for the Knight to come alive, before pegging it in the eye with an arrow. It was a long shot, and required split second timing, but it was the only option he really had at the moment.  
  
Grabbing up his boomerang, Yugi chucked it at the Armos Statue. It came alive instantly, its beady little eyes glaring red in anger. Not wasting a moment, he cocked an arrow and let it sail at the creature just as it started to hop around madly. The arrowhead tore through one of the eyes, making it stop its hopping to let out an enraged howl, giving Yugi a chance to hit its other eye. The creature let out another howl, before it disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the two arrows behind.  
  
Yugi breathed a sigh of relief as a click echoed through the room. In the next instant, the bars that had prevented access to the two doors in the room slid up into the doorframes. He collected his arrows and boomerang, biting his lower lip in apprehension; he was sorely tempted to go back and tell Nabooru that the place was loaded with monsters still. If he did that, however, it would just make him look like a coward; if he could not handle a few monsters, how was he supposed to help Link?  
  
Making up his mind, he grabbed his sword and headed for the door to the west, already knowing he was going to be in for a fight with a Stalfos skeleton warrior. 


End file.
